It's Spring–Time to Prevent Lyme DiseaseWhen you're outside this spring and summer, prevent tick bites and reduce your risk of Lyme disease and other tick-borne disease by following these tips.

More cases of Lyme disease are reported than any other bug-borne disease in the United States. There were more than 27,000 reported cases of Lyme disease in the U.S. in 2007; most of these cases are reported from the Northeast and upper Midwest. See more on Lyme disease statistics.

Lyme disease is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi. People become infected with the Lyme disease bacteria when they are bitten by an infected blacklegged tick.

As we start spending more time outdoors during spring and into summer, we have to be aware of the risk of tick bites. Gardening, camping, hiking, and just playing outdoors are all great spring and summertime activities, but make tick protection part of your outdoor plans as well.

Immature ticks (larvae and nymphs) are so small that they can be difficult to see. However, all stages of ticks need to feed on blood to continue on to the next stages—therefore these tiny ticks can be an important threat. You may come into contact with ticks when walking through infested areas or by brushing up against infested vegetation (such as leaf litter, tall grass or shrubs). Ticks also feed on mammals and birds, which play a role in maintaining ticks and maintaining the Lyme disease bacteria.

Ticks (including species other than the blacklegged ticks) can also transmit diseases other than Lyme disease, including Rocky Mountain spotted fever, erlichiosis, anaplasmosis, Colorado tick fever, and Powassan encephalitis.

Fortunately there are several tactics you and your family can use to prevent tick bites and reduce your risk of tick-borne disease.

Protect Yourself from Tick Bites•Know where to expect ticks. Blacklegged ticks live in moist and humid environments, particularly in or near wooded or grassy areas. You may come into contact with ticks during outdoor activities around your home or when walking through vegetation such as leaf litter or shrubs. To avoid ticks, walk in the center of trails.•Use a repellent with DEET (on skin or clothing) or permethrin (on clothing) and wear long sleeves, long pants and socks. Products containing permethrin can be used to treat boots, clothing and camping gear which can remain protective through several washings. Repellents containing 20% or more DEET (N, N-diethyl-m-toluamide) can be applied to the skin, and they can protect up to several hours. Always follow product instructions! Parents should apply this product to their children, taking care to avoid application to hands, eyes, and mouth.•It may sound silly, but tuck your pant legs into your socks so that ticks cannot crawl up inside of your pant legs. Some ticks can crawl down into shoes and are small enough to crawl through most socks.For detailed information about using DEET on children, see West Nile Virus: What You Need to Know about Mosquito Repellent.

For detailed information about tick prevention and control, see Lyme Disease Prevention and Control.

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7485.htmlLyme Disease in CaliforniaRevised 10/08Lyme disease is a potentially serious disease, and can be localized or affect multiple bodily systems. In the United States, the disease is caused by a spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi, a corkscrew-shaped kind of bacterium. The spirochete is transmitted to humans and other animals by the feeding activities of certain ticks. Of the 47 tick species established in California, 6 species attach to humans with any regularity, but only the western black-legged tick, Ixodes pacificus, is thought to be responsible for transmitting the spirochete to people. Ixodes pacificus has been reported in 56 out of 58 counties in the state, and it attaches to humans more frequently than any other tick. In one study, about 60% of 967 ticks that had attached to people were identified as western black-legged ticks. A recent compilation revealed that 108 species of lizards, birds, or mammals have been recorded as hosts of this tick in California. A different but closely related tick species, the deer tick (Ixodes scapularis), transmits Borrelia burgdorferi in eastern North America, but that tick does not occur in California.In most areas of northern California where Lyme disease occurs, only about 1 to 2% of the adult Ixodes pacificus ticks and 2 to 15% of the immature ticks, on average, are infected with Borrelia burgdorferi. However, Lyme disease transmission risk can be highly localized. In one woodland site in Mendocino County, for example, 41% of the nymphs were found to contain Lyme disease bacteria.{continued}

However, I am into minimalist options and there are lots of ways to take them off (See below). Important not to squeeze the body. What I learned from the CDC articles was that it is not a big deal if the head is broken off and Lyme disease risk relates to the body of the tick and duration of attachment, probably little increased risk of Lyme Disease if head is left in temporarily. Obviously not ideal to leave the mouth parts embedded, but not as big an issue as has been protrayed in the past (you probably will not need a short-haul helicopter evac). Certainly want to get that remaining bit of tick out eventually, as it could be a source of infection from more common staph or strep bacteria, but not the end of the world.

Tick infestations are seasonal and geographical. The worse experience I had was walking a trail one spring that had been closed for the winter (probably the first person on that trail that year) in Yellowstone and coming up with 8 ticks all over the bod. The worse deal with ticks is that they tend to go to inaccessible parts of the body. As a young lad, I would roam the hills in the San Francisco East Bay area and got one that embedded in my back. My father removed it surgically at home. Interesting experience for an 8 yr old.

One technique that I would like to try involves a straw (or pen shaft) and string (or dental floss) looped around the critter and pulled gently. Some reported devices:

I saw a suction type tick removal tool on one of the websites. IMO this makes less sense than the previously discussed snake bite suction kit. I think that direct mechanical force is probably required.

The tweezers I mentioned seem to be pretty good for grabbing the head.

Having said that, I am intrigued with the idea of using dental floss. That could work in a pinch.

(ok, yes, I know.. we usually went a little too nutsoid with the 'touch tick with blown out match'...and tick usually perished in the process... )But... I swear it worked some times... tick backs out... and bye bye...

There are conflicting accounts out there on the web (hmm... imagine that!).. about this fun method..I mean... who didn't like to light matches when they were a kid?

(ok, yes, I know.. we usually went a little too nutsoid with the 'touch tick with blown out match'...and tick usually perished in the process... )But... I swear it worked some times... tick backs out... and bye bye...

There are conflicting accounts out there on the web (hmm... imagine that!).. about this fun method..I mean... who didn't like to light matches when they were a kid?

Wait-a-minute... you're on to something here: FIREARMS! There has got to be something out there for relegating ticks to the hereafter. Maybe the Smith & Wesson 357 magnum tickgun. Vince?

Quoteszalkowski
Wait-a-minute... you're on to something here: FIREARMS! There has got to be something out there for relegating ticks to the hereafter. Maybe the Smith & Wesson 357 magnum tickgun. Vince?

(ok, yes, I know.. we usually went a little too nutsoid with the 'touch tick with blown out match'...and tick usually perished in the process... )But... I swear it worked some times... tick backs out... and bye bye...

There are conflicting accounts out there on the web (hmm... imagine that!).. about this fun method..I mean... who didn't like to light matches when they were a kid?

No to the match idea. That sound as ill advised as the kerosene and ice pick method for dealing with pubic lice.As far as weird options go, I seem to remember a technique using a needle and syringe that involved inflitrating saline or something else (<--- memo to self: should find what was used) around the tick. The envrionment of the tissue gets distorted or unpleasant for the tick and it pulls out to move on to other site. You grab'em at that point.

The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.-- Carl Sagan

QuoteThat sound as ill advised as the kerosene and ice pick method for dealing with pubic lice.As far as weird options go, I seem to remember a technique using a needle and syringe that involved inflitrating saline or something else (<--- memo to self: should find what was used) around the tick. The envrionment of the tissue gets distorted or unpleasant for the tick and it pulls out to move on to other site. You grab'em at that point.

Hmmm...as far as firearms go, maybe remove the bullet from the casing and come up with a way to use the gunpowder? I dunno.

Several years ago my brother and I were taking a quickie hike up Hotel Creek and my brother somehow picked up one of those little black ticks. I think he got it when he had leaned back into the manzanita to get an angle on a picture. Anyway, luckily the thing didn't bite, just made my brother itch under the collar. He managed to get the tick out onto the picnic table, where I blasted it with 100 percent DEET...and the tick just walked out of the puddle and didn't think anything of it. So does DEET work on ticks???? I'd say no based on observation.

QuoteVinceHe managed to get the tick out onto the picnic table, where I blasted it with 100 percent DEET...and the tick just walked out of the puddle and didn't think anything of it. So does DEET work on ticks???? I'd say no based on observation.

Sounds to me like it worked just fine. The tick didn't bite the table and walked away from the DEET. What else would you want?

QuoteVinceHe managed to get the tick out onto the picnic table, where I blasted it with 100 percent DEET...and the tick just walked out of the puddle and didn't think anything of it. So does DEET work on ticks???? I'd say no based on observation.

Sounds to me like it worked just fine. The tick didn't bite the table and walked away from the DEET. What else would you want?

DEET is not an insecticide. It discourages insects from alighting or attaching, I believe, by disrupting their detection of CO2 (last theory I heard on the subject). I don't think there is any value in spraying it on surfaces beyond clothing (and that may be controversial).

The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.-- Carl Sagan

I never had much luck with the hot match routine. Both times I ever tried it the tick did not budge. I think that if the head is a good ways in it is not a simple process even for the tick to extricate itself quickly. Prying them out, even with the tick tweezers requires latching onto the head, even if it's buried. Sometimes the head remains inside and must be removed somehow eventually or it will indeed become a source of infection which can keep recurring as much as a year or two later in the form of boils. Nasty little buggers.

Deer and ticks. I know that there is supposed to be an association, but I haven't seen that much. The tick article from California (first posting, this thread) seems to suggest that the ticks that are bad for humans may not be all the ticks in the woods. Some deer ticks may not necessarily be a serious problem for humans in California.

The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.-- Carl Sagan

Maybe I should take up fishing. Rubber waders keep the critters out, and you can't get in trouble when you're just standing there trying to trick a fish that has a brain 1/10000000th the size of yours.